After a revelation that the Forensic Science Service, based in Birmingham, was losing almost £2million per month and could run out of money by January, the decision has been made to begin closing its services over time.
The service was created in 2005 and has provided valuable evidence that has provided conclusions to a number of high-profile cases.
"Cybercrime is borderless by nature -- this makes criminal investigations more complicated for law enforcement authorities," said Europol Director Rob Wainwright. "To effectively tackle cybercrime, adequate cross-border provisions are needed."
According to McAfee, global corporate losses to cybercrime are estimated at around €750 billion (US$1 trillion) per year. There are more than 150,000 viruses in circulation and around 148,000 computers are compromised each day. In many ways, the European Union is a victim of its own success.
The report explains how China Telecom has allegedly diverted Internet traffic for roughly 18 minutes by releasing incorrect routing information that diverted all data through Chinese servers.
While the company denies all accusations, the evidence shows that the traffic to around 10-15% of internet destinations were rerouted through servers based in China including US government and military sites and other popular websites such as Yahoo and Microsoft.
The Finnish subsidiary of Norman Ibas, a company specialised in data recovery and computer forensics, believes that the recovery insurance model is the first of its kind in the world.
Jyri Pohja, CEO of Norman Ibas Oy, is confident that there will be a worldwide market for this "bit insurance".
"Our view is that we have created a concept here in Finland that is novel in the whole world. We are considering how we can expand it more widely into other markets in Europe, America and Asia," explains Pohja.
A LEGAL high linked to at least nine deaths in Europe and on sale in Scotland for as little as £10 a time must be banned, politicians said yesterday.
The drug, called Krypton, is made using the deadly combination of a narcotic Asian plant called kratom and a powerful medical painkiller.
It is completely legal and widely available on the Internet, as well as from at least one “head shop” in Scotland.
But authorities in Sweden have linked Krypton to the deaths of nine young people in the last year and are set to make it illegal in that country.
Gisela Classon, of the Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine, yesterday urged the Scottish Government to investigate if there have been any fatalities here, adding: “I would be rather surprised if there weren’t any since this drug is globally available.”
